Dive Brief:
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On Saturday, the group United Students Against Sweatshops staged a day of action at more than 30 REI stores nationwide.
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The group wants REI to stop selling products by The North Face, which is owned by VF Corp., because the parent company hasn’t signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
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A VF spokesman said the retail company, including its The North Face brand, is “deeply committed to the safety of the people making our products around the world, as demonstrated by the financial resources we’ve invested and the actions we’ve taken to continually improve working conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh.”
Dive Insight:
Under pressure, several retailers have come around to signing the legally binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which was reached after the infamous 2013 collapse of a concrete building complex known as Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh that killed more than a thousand apparel workers.
Several retailers had previously (and many, including VF Corp. still have) insisted on joining the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which is not a legally binding agreement and has come under fire by activists for lacking adequate funding and follow-through. Ongoing protests like these could help keep the issue alive and encourage more retailers and manufactures to take a heavier stance on worker safety issues overseas.
